Safety-guard for printing-presses.



L. E. MORRISON. SAFETY GUARD FOR PRINTING PRESSES.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 11. I914.

Patented Oct. 19, 1915.

, HIM M M '5 vwe whom 550 WWW STATES PATENT orrro LEWIS E. MORRISON, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO HUMANA COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 19, 1915.

Application filed December 17, 1914. Serial No. 877,665.

To all whom it may concern: 7

Be it known that I, LEWIS E. MoRRIsoN, a citizen of the United States of A merica, and a resident of Newark, Essex county, New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Safety Guards for PrintingPresses, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in safety guards for printing presses.

In my pending application, Serial Number 865,780, I have described and illustrated a safety guard particularly well adapted for use on a job press of the Price & Chandler type, though not expressly limited in its application to this kind of a press. For other types of presses or similar machines, I have ,found other types of safety guards better adapted than the one above referred to.

The object of this invention is to provide a safety guard particularly well adapted for use on a job press of the Gordon type, or for a similar machine operated on the same principle.

It is a particular object of this invention to provide a safety guard adapted to be manufactured at a low cost and one, which can be quickly attached to the machine or press without requiring any change in the construction thereof.

With these and other objects in view, the invention is embodied in a certain mechanism and combination of parts as hereinafter set forth and as illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which- Figure 1 is a partial side elevation of a job press or similar machine constructed and operated on the principle of a Gordon job press and equipped with a safety guard embodying the invention, the press being shown with the impression on or closed. Fig. 2 is a similar view showing the press open or with the impression off. Fig. 3 is a view of the guard detached from the press, and Fig. 4 is a detail view of a portion of the guard.

Referring to the construction and operation of a Gordon job press, which is very well known in the art, the following brief description will suffice for the purpose of understanding this invention.

In the drawing the numeral 5 denotes the frame of the press and 6 represents the platen which is mounted to oscillate on a shaft 7 journaled in the frame. The platen is operated by means of a pair of swinging arms 8, only one of which appears, and which are operated on a shaft 9 in the frame 5. In the free end of the arm 8 is supported a sliding block 10 which is pivoted to the arm at 11. The block 10 slides between the body of the platen 6 and a slide piece 12 secured to the platen by bolts 13, 13. 14 represents the form member operated in a well known manner.

It will be clear from the foregoing that as the arms 8 swing on the shaft 9, they operate the platen by means of the sliding block 10 to lift the platen to receive the impression from the'form member and to move the platen down, as in Fig. 2, to enable the printer to feed fresh material to the platen to be printed.

Even when operated at comparatively slow speed, the press is open for but a fraction of a minute during which the operator removes the printed matter from the platen with his left hand and places it on the receiving table 15, and feeds unprinted material to the platen with his right hand and properly places it in position to receive the imprint-from the form. Consequently there is great possibility of the operators hands being caught in the press and injured.

The safety guard as herein disclosed has for its object to prevent accidental injury to the hands of the operator.

. Referring to Fig. 3 the guard comprises the cross bar 16 and side bars 17, 17 to which a piece of stout canvas 18 is secured. Preferably the canvas is wrapped around the bar or rod 16 and secured to the side bars 17 by a suitable clamp 19, but it may be secured by other means or devices. Preferably also the canvas is not stretched taut between the bars 17 but is fitted between said bars so as to be free to crimple slightly so as to conform to the outlines or shape of the platen and its operating arms 8 as the canvas passed between them when the press is open and as is understood from an inspection of Fig.2. Other slightly flexible material similar to canvas may, of course, be used. In Fig. 3 this slight impression from the platen and the arms 8 upon the canvas is indicated by surface shading.

The means for operating the guard and securing it to the press are as follows: To each side of the platen is secured a bracket 20 to which there is pivoted a link 21 which is also pivoted to the side bar 17 at 22. To each arm 8, on the outside thereof, there is secured a bracket 23 by means of bolts as shown and the lower end of the bars 17 is pivoted to said brackets 23 at 24:. It will be understood from Fig. 3 that the construc tion is alike on the two sides of the press.

The operation and advantage of the safety guard is clearly observable from Figs. 1 and guard is raised and brought 2. From the position shown in Fig. 2 the across the position of the operators hands as he manipulates the material and into the fully raised position in Fig. 1. Obviously, if the operator otherwise would not have been able to withdraw his hands in time or before the press closes, whenthe press is equipped with the guard asherein shown and described, the operators hands Will be forcibly lifted by the crossbar 16 and away from the platen. Also, the canvas prevents the operator from attempting to thrust his hand or hands between the platen and the cross bar even after his hands have been raised by the latter.

Preferably the parts are so proportioned that the last movement of raising the guard v is rather quick and correspondingly the first movement in lowering the guard is quick, in order that the guard may be brought quickly out of the Way and give the operator sufiicient time to handle the material.

It is also worthy of note and a feature of the construction, that when the press is open, the cross bar 16 is moved down so low as to be flush with the upper edge of the platen and almost disappear between the latter and the receiving table 15 and presents no obstruction to the movements of the hands of the operator. I

It will be seen that the guard is attached to the press by drilling six holes, two in the platen for the. brackets 20 and two in each of the arms 8 for the brackets'23.

The construction may be modified to suit the particular type of press or similar machine to which the guard is to be attached and is not limited to the precise disclosure, nor is this type of guard limited in its application and usefulness to Gordon presses.

I claim 1. In a printing press or similar machine the combination with a platen and its operating means, of a guard, means for operating said guard across the position of the operators hand and comprising brackets secured to said operating means, a pivotal connection between said brackets and the guard and links pivoted to the latter and the said platen.

2. In a printing press or similar machine the combination with a platen and oscillating members for operating the same, of a guard adapted to be moved across the position of the operators hand, brackets secured to said members, pivotal connections between the guard and the said brackets and pivoted link connections interposed between the said guard and the platen.

3. In a printing press or similar machine the combination with a platen, of a guard comprising, a cross bar and two side bars, a guarding member secured to said cross and side bars, link connections between the side bars and said platen and pivotal connections between said side bar and the platen operating means.

4. In a printing press or similar machine the combination with a platen and its operating means, of a guard adapted to be moved from a position immediately adjacent to and substantially flush with the upper edge I of the platen to a position elevated above the latter, means for operating said guard comprising pivotal connections between the guard and said operating means and link connections pivoted'to said guard and the said platen adjacent its upper edge.

5. In a printing press or similar machine the combination with a platen and its operating means, of a guard comprising a cross bar and two'side bars, a guarding member of slightly flexible material secured to said cross and side bars, pivotal connections between, the latter and said operating means and link connections between said side bars and the said platen.

6. In a printing press or similar machine the combination with a platen and its operating means, of a guard adapted to be moved across the position of the operators hand, means connecting said guard and platen and 7 means for pivoting the said guard to the said HENRY E. W001), JOHN B. THOMSON. 

